Stump The Bearded Wonder No 83

Bill Frindall, aka the Bearded Wonder, is poised to solve your cricket queries and teasers.

The Test Match Special statistician will be busy answering your questions throughout the English summer.

Fill in the form on the right-hand side of the page to stump the Bearded Wonder.

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Mani Thangadurai, India

Do you know the first Welshman to ever play for England? I'm thinking that it must have been long, long ago!

Cardiff-born (1906) Maurice Joseph Lawson Turnbull became England's first Welsh cricketer when he played the first of his nine Test matches against New Zealand at Christchurch in January 1930.

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Chris Manners, UK

A friend of mine swears he can remember an International Cavaliers match from the late 60s featuring a 50-year-old Denis Compton, not only batting but commentating with a radio pack (with big aerial protruding) on his back. Has he dreamed all this?!

No, your friend wasn't visiting the fairies. I remember watching that match - in black and white and probably at Lord's - during one of the last two seasons (1967 or 1968) of those highly entertaining Rothman's Cavaliers games. Richie Benaud was bowling to Compton and both were linked by personal microphones to Brian Johnston in the commentary box.

'Johnners' asked Richie what type of delivery he was going to bowl next and then asked 'Compo' what he was expecting and how he would deal with it. I recall Benaud promising a googly and Compton predicting it and producing that trademark sweep to dispatch it to the boundary.

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Phil Thomas, UK

Who was your predecessor as TMS statistician?

Arthur Wrigley was BBC radio's first Test match scorer/statistician. A young leg-spin bowler on the Lancashire groundstaff and a trainee accountant, he made his debut at Old Trafford in 1934.

Commentator Howard Marshall had requested the assistance of a scorer after trying to describe Hedley Verity's 14 wickets in a day to end the previous Test at Lord's without the assistance of a scorer. Arthur's long reign ended with his sudden death after the 1965 season.

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David Pickup, England

In a Test innings have extras ever been the highest scorer?

Yes, David. Extras have outscored the highest innings contribution by a batsman on 13 occasions in Test cricket and finished equal-highest on two others. The earliest instance occurred at Lord's in the1912 Triangular Tournament when South Africa's total of 58 included 17 extras and a top score of just 13.

England provided the most recent during their Jamaica Test last March when extras accounted for 60 of their 339 total, two more than their highest individual contribution.

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Zainub, Karachi, Pakistan

When was Omar Kureshi a part of the TMS team?

Omar, who was born at Muri (India) in 1927 and educated at Harvard and Oxford, made his TMS debut in 1962, while I was enjoying a NATO posting with the RAF at Fontainebleau. I remember his quick-witted comments during Pakistan's 1967 and 1971 visits. He returned as manager of the 974 Pakistan team. Omar's varied career included a spell as editor of the Karachi Times and another as PR director of Pakistan International Airlines.

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Andrew Cowell, Australia

Hi there Bill. I now live in Australia, but was brought-up in east London, not far from the County Ground in Leyton. I understand that Test matches were once played there, but how many, against whom, and when did they end? Thank you.

Sorry, Andrew. No Essex ground, let alone Leyton, has ever staged a Test match. Chelmsford has hosted three World Cup games, one (Australia v India) in 1983 and two (New Zealand v Bangladesh and South Africa v Zimbabwe) in 1999.

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Simon Thorpe, England

I play for a local village team in Leicestershire called Knossington, and on Sunday my dad (approaching his 60th birthday!) bowled the first eight overs from one end for three wickets and no runs! I was wondering what the most overs bowled for no runs is and whether my dad can claim any records! I replaced my dad's amazing spell and I'd already gone for more runs than him after my first ball!

My records of minor cricket are far from being exhaustive but there is a recorded instance of a bowler taking all ten wickets, all bowled, for no runs. The assassin was Jennings Tune and he achieved his dream rout on 6 May 1922 at Cliffe in Yorkshire in a home Howden and District League match against Eastrington.

There have been at least two instances in School and College cricket of bowlers taking nine wickets with consecutive balls.

Your dad was a spring chicken compared with the oldest man to take a hat-trick. Lionel Deamer was 74 years and 330 days old when he performed this feat for Lloyds Bank (Midlands) CC against Earlswood CC on 6 July1979.

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Peter Hughes, UK

In No. 82, you mention that Graham Roope was not the batting partner when John Edrich reached his 100th century. However, Wisden 1978 (p539) says: "Curiously, Roope was the batting partner when first Edrich and then Boycott completed their hundredth hundred". Looking at the scorecard, it seems that Howarth was the batting partner, as you say. Is this a rare instance of Wisden making a mistake, and if so should there now be an erratum, albeit very belatedly?

I have a copy of the official scorecard and it shows Roope at No. 3 being bowled by Eddie Barlow for 27 and Geoff Howarth at No. 5 finishing 5 not out. The match ended as soon as John Edrich completed his hundred. In fact it should have ended at 5.30pm when he had reached 97 but Barlow, Derbyshire's captain, allowed him an extra over from occasional bowler, Alan Hill.

It could be that the official scorecard is wrong because Roope was No. 5 and Howarth No. 3 on the original batting order. They swapped places in the first innings but may not have done so in the second and possibly it was Howarth who went in first wicket down and Roope who was not out. I recall Graham telling me that he had been at the striker's end for both the Edrich and Boycott hundredth hundreds.

Jack Hill was the Surrey scorer and he was the first to use my linear book on the county circuit. I will try and find the 1977 one when I am at The Oval for the Champions Trophy final next week. Watch this space!

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Gary Wallbridge, Guernsey

Having seen Andrew Flintoff hit many sixes in Test cricket in the last 12 months how is he comparing with the other big hitters in Test cricket history? Recently Chris Cairns broke the record for the most but I cannot remember how many that was.

Chris Cairns holds the Test match record with 87 sixes from 104 innings. Next come Viv Richards (84 from 182), Clive Lloyd (70 from 175), Brian Lara (69 from 197), Ian Botham (67 from 161) and Gordon Greenidge (67 from 185). Andrew Flintoff is currently in 17th place with 44 from 63 innings.

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Richard, Scotland

I noticed that the first Gillette Cup Final played in 1963 was advertised as a 60-over match. The scorecard reveals that Sussex scored 168 all out in 60.2 overs to beat Worcestershire, 154 all out in 63.2 overs. If it was a 60-over match, why were more than 60 overs bowled on each innings?

All matches comprising the 1963 Gillette Knock-Out Cup, including its September final, featured 65-over innings. That inaugural Lord's final ended in near darkness and the competition was reduced to 60-over innings thereafter.

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David Longfield, England

In the recent Kent v Northants match, two of Kent's batsmen retired hurt in the same innings. Has this ever happened at Test level?

It certainly happened at Sabina Park in Kingston, Jamaica, in April 1976 when Anshuman Gaekwad and Brijesh Patel retired hurt in India's first innings of the Fourth Test. Batting against the pace of Michael Holding and Wayne Daniel without the benefit of helmets, Gaekwad was struck on the left ear and spent two days in hospital and Patel had three stitches inserted in cut in his mouth.

Earlier that innings Viswanath had been dismissed by a ball that had fractured and dislocated a finger. Bedi declared the innings closed to protect himself and Chandrasekhar from injury but both suffered hand injuries in the field. India's second innings ended farcically with only five wickets down and five batsmen absent hurt.

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Zainab Vohra, Pakistan

Who has bowled the most balls in Test cricket without taking a wicket and who has conceded the most runs without taking a Test match wicket?

J.L. Hopwood 462-32-155-0

Lancashire all-rounder Len Hopwood holds the record for bowling most balls in Test cricket without taking a wicket. A flat, accurate left-arm bowler who operated at just below medium pace, he played in the Old Trafford and Headingley Tests against the 1934 Australians. In three innings he bowled 462 balls and conceded 155 runs. The highlight of this record was his tally of 32 maidens.

The record for conceding most runs without taking a wicket in Tests is held by George Headley, one of the greatest West Indian batsman of all time who rejoiced in the nickname of The Black Bradman and averaged 60.83 in his 40 Test innings. His occasional leg-breaks conceded 230 runs from 398 balls.

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